Dear colleagues and friends,

The Bucharest Congress in 2008 has opened up new perspectives for many of you in Central and Eastern Europe. The Union Internationale des Avocats would now like to invite you to turn your sights on the Mediterranean, because its 2009 annual congress will be held in Seville, Spain.

 Situated halfway between Europe and Africa, Seville, the capital city of Andalusia, embodies one of the UIA’s most cherished values: multiculturality.
In fact the history of this Andalusian province, which was under Muslimrule until it was conquered by the Christians in 1248, has made Seville a crossroads of cultures, a characteristic further enhanced during the age of discovery of the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries. Today, Seville, one of the most dynamic and cosmopolitan cities in southern Europe, tenaciously retains the contrasts that make it so rich.
Therefore, multiculturality will be at the heart of the debates at this Congress since we have selected globalization and its effects on tolerance and law as one of the main themes.
Two other chosen themes - professional secrecy and criminalization of business law - will give you the chance to discuss with colleagues the practices adopted in each of the countries represented at the Congress. This will be another opportunity to strengthen solidarity, tolerance and the exchange of experience among professionals.

Finally, since the best way to understand Andalusian cultural syncretism is to experience it first hand, the UIA also invites you to enjoy the charms of Seville and the banks of the River Guadalquivir.
Since 1987 a number of the city’s buildings have been classified asWorld Heritage Sites by UNESCO, testifying to periods of great splendour in the city’s history. Between tradition and modernity, Seville will charm you with its monuments and nightlife that moves to the sound of flamenco music.

Prof. Dr Bernd REINMÜLLER
UIA President

Thinking of Seville and starting to dream are one and the same thing. The city’s name comes from the Arabic word Ichbiliah, an adaptation of the Roman name of the city, Hispalis, first mentioned in literature by Julius Caesar in his De Bello Civili. According to King Alfonso X “the Wise”, it was founded by Hercules, the mythical half-God. Whether or not this legend is true, Seville is certainly a divine place.

Anyone lucky enough to be strolling along the city’s central shopping street Calle Sierpes, around the Plaza de Doña Elvira, through the gardens of the Alcázares Reales (Royal Palace), or along the banks of the River Guadalquivir, will see how Seville has provided the colours for the palettes of the city’s great painters Velázquez orMurillo and inspired the verses of its poets Bécquer or the Machado brothers, and understand why Don Juan – that universal myth – was a Sevillian by birth.Visitors will even find it natural that Don Quixote, “engendered in some dismal prison” according to Cervantes, was created in a Sevillian jail; Cervantes – a tax collector for Andalusia - ended up there when the bank where he had deposited the money went bankrupt.

Seville is a melting pot of cultures. The ruins of Italica remind us that Seville was not just dominated by the Romans, it is Roman: two great emperors were born in the city: Trajan and Hadrian. It is also Muslim, as exemplified by the Giralda, built in 1184 by the Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf and inspired by the minaret of the Kutubia Mosque in Marrakech, or the Torre del Oro (the Gold Tower) erected by the Almohad governor in 1220 and once adorned with tiles that shone like gold in the sun. The Jewish presence is evident in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood, the old Jewish Quarter. The Cathedral – the largest Gothic church in the world – proclaims, together with other beautiful churches and monuments, that Seville is Christian. And the Archivo de Indias (General Archive of the Indies) reminds us of the close ties that link Seville with Latin America.

Today, Seville is one of the largest cities in southern Europe. Its inhabitants are warm, jovial and hard-working. The Congress, to be held from27 to 31October 2009, one of the best times of the year to visitAndalusia, will be an intelligent combination of work and pleasure, allowing participants to enjoy the city’s many beautiful spots, participate in the city’s festive traditions and enjoy life with its citizens, whose friendliness and good humour are legendary.

We await you in Seville.

Juan Antonio CREMADES
UIA President of Honour
President of the 2009 Congress Organising Committee